Datamarts are types of software programs that allow users to aggregate, sort, sift, and manipulate data from a number of sources. These sources of data can be, for example, databases or internet web servers. Users describe the types of data they wish the datamarts to access, from which source, and how that data should be manipulated.
In some systems, the user defines a script for accessing the data in the data sources. The scripts typically include data access instructions. The interfaces for generating such scripts are usually text based and do not allow the user to visualize the flow of the data accesses and the manipulations on the data.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved data access description method and apparatus that more clearly shows the data being accessed and the types of operations being performed on that data.